I'm having a clear out - I have a couple of redundant video cameras I'd like to get shot of, trouble is they are the only pieces of equipment able to handle the couple of dozen miniDV tapes I've built up over time.

My intention is to rip the tapes onto hard drive in their entirety (a process I've started... then restarted... then... you get the picture).

It's a mixture of SD and HD footage, and as storage is cheap I'm thinking along the lines of some USB memory sticks. I think the only issue troubling me is longevity - if I chuck them in a drawer and come back in 10 years will they be ok?

Any others tackled this?
TIA

Is cloud storage as well an option?

DV files are very large. (20 mins runs to about 4GB for SD, HD is probably similar as it's mpeg compressed so the data rate is similar to SD (So a standard firewire port can cope).

The problem with putting content on USB memory sticks for years and years, chances are the USB interface will have changed by then and u won't be able to plug the old style memory stick into computers of that period.

In a similar way we are unlikely to have optical drives in 10 years, so burning stuff to cd, dvd, bluray isn't much good long term either.

I guess the only future proof place is the internet. But even online can present probs, for example if you sign up for a cloud storage option, what happens if that company goes out of business. Also consider that online isn't very secure, and upload speeds are a fraction of download speeds, so sending a few hours of hd video into the cloud is going to be painful.

You can get those M-Disc discs that supposedly last 1000 years, not had anything to do with them but may be worth a look.

I don't think there is a single 'best' solution to this problem other than to probably archive to PC at the highest quality you can, save to hard drive(s) and maybe to these longer lasting DVD's and check they still can be read every couple of years while possibly copying to newer drives and discs every few years to try and increase the odds of some of them surviving.

Online storage with a reputable company makes sense too but even with fibre broadband it'll be slow uploading if you've got dozens/hundreds of DV tapes to archive.

The problem is that every format now has a limited lifespan, gone are the days where a standard media lasts decades and decades like vinyl..... tape based devices aren't really made now (DV, VHS) and I wonder if even Blu Ray will be commercially viable in 10 years time when most films will probably come via downloads, meaning potentially no players around (other than old vintage stuff) to play back old recordings.

A USB DVD recorder with M-Disc capability is £29 at Amazon so pretty cheap

The best 'archive' is the original tapes - honestly. If you burn to digital media don't throw out important recordings. The tapes are likely to outlast what media you copy them to.

As long as the tapes are stored correctly. If the conditions are wrong it is very easy for the oxide layer of the tape to degrade and render the tapes unplayable. You need a storage system that maintains a reasonable temperature, say 15-20 degrees C and lowish humidity, say 40% RH max.

Store them incorrectly and you can very soon end up with a pile of plastic goo that would clog up the tape mechanism if you ever tried to play the tape.

And also with digital they can be stored in multiple places with no degradation. Tapes will degrade eventually whereas digital will last "forever" as long a proper steps with redundancy are taken.

Can you connect your video camera to the PC via Firewire, I used to connect mine via Firewire and then record them in Adobe Premiere Elements. But if the computer hasn't got Firewire then it could get tricky, the best solution then is to get something like a Pinnacle Video Capture device which can route it into the PC or Laptop.


You've just inspired me to look for all my Mini DV tapes, I found them, but some of them I actually haven't captured the footage from and am going to do it "one day" so I hope it will still be possible. My new computer hasn't got Firewire port, but the old one has

I've done this project, thankfully I kept all the original master tapes (Hi 8 and mini DV) as originally I burned DVD-Rs. Now, after editing I have them all on 2 NAS drives at home and have uploaded them all to Picassa (128GB and counting).

Cloud storage was only made practical after getting BT Infinity with good upload speed.

An advantage of cloud storage is that everyone in the family can access pictures and video from anywhere. The downside is that it costs.

Flickr would be perfect as it gives 1TB free storage but as there's a file size limit it's of limited use for HD video.

I was looking at Flickr for backing up my youtube but you only get about 2.30 max playback time so its no good.
I find dailymotion is OK does not got many views but its an OK site for back ups and can have up to around an hour on there.

YouTube now goes up to 1080p50/1080p60 (though at a low-ish bitrate), and of course videos can be private to the account or only available to those with a "private" link. Apart from the low bitrate limiting quality, you'll hit problems if you have any copyrighted music in your home movies. On the plus side, I can't see Google going bankrupt any time soon. That has been (and I assume will be) a problem with some cloud storage options.

The answer to archiving your home videos (once you have digitised them properly) is the same as any other data: multiple copies on separate HDDs, stored at different locations, checked (via some error/checksum mechanism) and replicated+replaced reasonably often.

That's "just" cost and hassle. Transferring analogue videos to digital properly is the real pain.

Cheers,
David.

Thanks for all the replies.

To pick up on what soundbox said, I'm thinking of just continuing to use the HD miniDV camcorder for a holiday this year, having been burnt by the poor quality of compact camera footage these last couple of years (cameras were bought for ruggedness, not film quality). I'm looking into a 'better' compact - Panasonic TZ series for example which offer improved HD recording... but HD footage gobbles up SD card memory (and battery), and tapes are cheap and archive well.

For existing stuff, I'll rip the tapes to HD, then make a copy or two on another HD and maybe DVDR to keep my options open

I'm considering the M Disc and looking to test their 1000 year guarantee (Assuming I can be cryogenically frozen, that is)

Pretty sure Prof. Farnsworth has a position free, as long as you don't mind the cyclops co-worker.

Yeah that's fine, I'm not a cyclops racist